CHEST: Hypnotherapy Aids Smoking Cessation

CHEST: Hypnotherapy Aids Smoking Cessation

By Michael Smith, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor at
the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
October 23, 2007


MedPage Today Action Points

Explain to interested patients that this small study
provides some data, previously lacking, on the
effectiveness of hypnotherapy as a smoking cessation
tool.

Note that this study suggests that hypnotherapy,
combined with intensive counseling and frequent
reinforcement, can result in about half of
participants remaining smoke-free after six months.

This study was published as an abstract and presented
orally at a conference. The data and conclusions
should be considered to be preliminary until published
in a peer-reviewed publication.

Review
CHICAGO, Oct. 23 -- Smokers who've been hospitalized
are more likely to quit if they're treated with
hypnotherapy after discharge than with other smoking
cessation methods, a researcher said here.

In a small study of patients hospitalized with a
cardiopulmonary diagnosis, half of those given a
hypnotherapy session after discharge remained
smoke-free after six months, according to Faysal
Hasan, M.D., of North Shore Medical Center in Salem,
Mass.

In contrast, only one in four of those who preferred
the cold turkey route stayed off tobacco and only
15.78% of those getting nicotine replacement therapy
did, Dr. Hasan told attendees at CHEST 2007, the
annual meeting of the American College of Chest
Physicians.

Those in the fourth arm of the 67-patient study got
both hypnotherapy and nicotine replacement therapy and
half of them managed to stay off tobacco at the
six-month mark, he said.

"Hypnotherapy was pretty good," he said, but adding
nicotine replacement appeared to make no difference.

But, Dr. Hasan said, the cessation program wasn't just
a single session of hypnotherapy. All patients --
except those in the cold turkey arm -- were also given
intensive counseling and six follow-up telephone calls
for support and encouragement over the ensuing six
months.

Those in the cold turkey arm were given brief
counseling and sent home with anti-smoking brochures.

Dr. Hasan said he and colleagues decided to focus on
hospitalized patients because "it's a teaching
moment," when patients are likely to be highly
motivated to quit.

Only patients who expressed a desire to stop smoking
were included in the study.

The researchers attempted to randomize patients to one
of the four treatment modalities, but patients were
also allowed to express their own preferences. Most of
those choosing to go cold turkey, for instance, were
men, Dr. Hasan said.

While hypnotherapy enjoys a popular image as a good
way to stop smoking, Dr. Hasan noted, the data are
"all over the place." Success rates ranging from 15%
to 80% have been claimed, but controlled studies are
"very few" and results are varied, he said.

Interestingly, the study found, patients who were
admitted with a cardiac diagnosis were more likely to
remain tobacco-free at six months than those who had a
pulmonary diagnosis, at 45.5% versus 15.63%.

Dr. Hasan said the "fear and doom" associated with a
cardiac diagnosis might have increased the motivation
to quit, and patients with a pulmonary diagnosis might
have been less afraid.

It's striking how many patients ask about
hypnotherapy, said Frank Leone, M.D., of the
University of Pennsylvania Health System in
Philadelphia, who moderated a press conference at
which Dr. Hasan spoke.

"There's a sort of cultural mystique associated with
hypnosis," he said.

The problem is that hypnotherapy ranges from large
group sessions -- often offered at high cost to the
public -- to small focused sessions, such as those
used by Dr. Hasan and colleagues, he said.

"The variability of what people call hypnosis, to me,
is the big underlying problem," said Dr. Leone, who
was not involved in the study.

Dr. Hasan reported no financial links to industry or
potential conflicts.


www.MedPageToday.com

Primary source: CHEST
Source reference:
Hasan FM, et al "Hypnotherapy as an aid to smoking
cessation of hospitalized patients: preliminary
results" Chest Meeting Abstracts 2007; 132: 527a.

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